Dr. Mhlanga is the Provincial Specialist of Obstetrics and Gynecology
for the Department of Health of Mpumalanga province, South Africa. He is
also a member of the South African National Committee on the
Confidential Enquiry of Maternal Death, and serves on the International
Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Task Team on the
Prevention of Unsafe Abortion. As the former director of Maternal, Child
and Women’s Health for the Department of Health, Dr. Mhlanga was
instrumental in helping implement the Choice on Termination of Pregnancy
Act (1996). He continues as a practicing physician in South Africa.

DKT WomanCare is pleased to invite Dr. Mhlanga to present on how to
reduce maternal mortality. “Many countries have not succeeded in meeting
the Millennium Development Goal of reducing the maternal mortality ratio
by 75 percent,” says Dr. Mhlanga. “Equipping health care providers with
basic awareness and commonsense skills like the ESMOE protocol, and
essential tools like the Ipas MVA, will dramatically help reduce
maternal mortality going forward.”

Manual vacuum aspiration is a WHO- and FIGO-recommended technique for
uterine evacuation; the low cost, simplicity and portability of which
makes it an especially valuable reproductive health technology in
developing countries. ESMOE is a medical education partnership with the
South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
to bring Essential Steps in Managing Obstetric Emergencies training to
countries in Africa and beyond.

“Dr. Mhlanga is both a passionate advocate for safe abortion as well as
a respected clinician who brings critical expertise and gravitas to
women’s health issues in South Africa. He is a mentor and inspiration to
physicians practicing family planning across the country,” says True
Overholt, Marketing Director of DKT WomanCare. “His presence and
perspective at this conference is tremendously important. We are also
delighted to present DKT WomanCare to the thousands of attendees at this
conference. It’s impossible to discuss healthcare in Africa without
addressing family planning, so we hope everyone who doesn’t know us
already will stop by booth #2.C30.”

DKT WomanCare Global provides products to DKT country-based programs as
well as multi-lateral, governmental, commercial, and NGO partners. DKT
WomanCare’s mission is to increase the number of public and private
health providers who can access and utilize a wide range of
contraceptives and reproductive health technologies, including the Ipas
Manual Vacuum Aspirator (MVA), medical abortion tablets, Levoplant, and
IUDs. DKT is the exclusive global distributor and marketer of the Ipas
MVA technology and the exclusive global distributor and marketer of the
Levoplant, a 3 year, WHO-Prequalified contraceptive implant.

DKT-Egypt/MENA will be cosponsoring the DKT WomanCare Global booth. DKT
Egypt/MENA opened its doors in 2004 to serve Egyptian couples and today
serves more than 3,500 gynecologists and 8,000 pharmacies across Egypt.
The program is also the launchpad for DKT’s expansion throughout the
Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region.

Chris Purdy, CEO of DKT International, says, “As the largest healthcare
exposition in Africa, with companies from 39 countries participating, 18
scheduled conferences and numerous workshops, the Africa Health
Exposition is an important venue for us to show not only what’s
achievable on this continent in family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention,
but also how it can be done cost efficiently and with maximum impact
through social marketing.”

Since 1989, DKT International’s core mission has been to provide safe
and affordable options for family planning and HIV prevention through
social marketing in 24 populous countries throughout Latin America,
Africa, and Asia encompassing more than 63% of the world’s population.
In 2018, DKT International averted 13 million unwanted pregnancies, 32K
maternal deaths, and 10 million unsafe abortions – providing 45 million
couple-years of protection through its products and services.